Subtle Differences
by Lord Omega Emrys
Summary: If things had gone a little bit differently. Mergana and Arwen.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin, if I did, MERGANA! Another Authors note way down below.**_

He woke with a start, gasping for breath like a fish out of water, he could feel the cloth sticking to his skin as beads of sweat rolled down his back. Rebellious sun rays bypassed his curtain and dimly illuminated his room. He had another nightmare. They seemed to occur more often than not these days. Merlin blinked rapidly, trying to quickly recuperate his vision, once the objects in his immediate are began to become clearer and sharper, he stepped out of his bed. Today, he would go to Camelot. If it had been any other day, his knees would have buckled from the wave of anxiety that rushed his body, causing him to stumble. But today was no ordinary day, today was the Seventh of the Seventh, and his mother always said that going off to new lands on such a day was good luck. And considering his _special_ abilities, she would accept no other day for him to go off to the most dangerous place in all of the Earth for people like him.

Stretching, he prepared for the new day. He had plenty to do, Will probably wanted to bid him goodbye and he also had to set out for Camelot, which was 2 days of travel more or less. So he got ready and left his room, knowing very well it might be the last time he see it in a long time. He passed through the kitchen and right out the door, his mother was most likely outside feeding the chickens anyway. She always did like to rise early.

Merlin had no luck finding his mum, so he deducted that she must have been off at some neighbors house. Using this opportunity Merlin went to see Will, whom had probably wanted to see him before he left. On his way he saw old misses Margret, uselessly attempting to carry sacks full of potatoes and other vegetables. He smiled and relieved the elderly woman of her burden. She turned her head so quickly Merlin thought that he heard the lash of a whip. She opened her mouth to reprimand whomever was attempting to steal her potatoes, but smiled widely when she saw who it was.

"Dear Lord Merlin, you startled me, how kind of you to help out an old woman like me, I'm telling you now young lad, don't let these years go to waste, because soon enough you'll feel them leave your very bones, my word, have you gotten taller? What has Hunith been feeding you? I bet plenty young laces are after you hm?" She rambled, smiling merrily. Merlin blushed at that last bit, knowing that he had gotten a severe lack of attention from the female population in Ealdor. Nonetheless, Merlin smiled kindly and carried the sack to her little hovel.

"Well, Miss M, I have been eating more meat, and I've not courted a lady yet. How have you been?" He responded, rapidly answering her questions before she had the chance to dote on him and his "adorable" ears. She grinned and said simply, "Now you just hold your horses young man, I bet you my home that you´ll find a nice girl when you' re off to Camelot. Though you best be careful, I don´t want a nice lad like you getting involved with some street harlot. You´re so kind you are, Hunith should be so proud, it´s no wonder she never stops talking about you."

Merlin felt his insides swell, feeling good that his mother was proud of him. He gently placed the sack of potatoes on her dining table. "Well, Miss M, it's been a pleasure, but I do have some things to do so I'll have to be-ummph" he yelped as the smaller woman pulled him into a spine-breaking hug. "Now you be careful hun," she said affectionately, "I hope that you have good luck on your travels. And next time you return, it better be with a nice young lady or so help me God, I will get one for you myself. " She said this last part sternly, and Merlin hoped to God that she wasn´t serious.

"Bye Miss M! " he said as he stepped out of the door, leaving her to do whatever she did in the mornings. He took three steps before he crashed into a person, and judging by the fact that the person he crashed into wasn´t telling him off, he assumed it was someone he knew. His thoughts were proven correct when a hand reached out to help him out, and a familiar voice saying, "How on God´s green earth you are still alive, I don´t know, if I stumbled this much I'd have fallen into a bottom less pit, I tell you." Merlin smiled as he took the hand and pulled himself up. Just the man he was looking for, Will. "Well yeah, but that's just because your a dunce." Merlin replied casually. Will intended to hit Merlin upside the head but Merlin was too quick, dodging the blow. Soon, they got into a fight, Merlin using his magic to trip Will up. But soon they both got tired and fell onto a nearby stack of hay. ¨So Merls, off to the big boy kingdom, huh?" Will asked jokingly, but Merlin sensed an thin layer of bitterness in Will´s voice. Merlin frowned and patted his best friend's back patronizingly. Will simply gave a grunt of recognition, looking sullen. "I'll visit, I promise" Merlin said. "You know, it'll be awfully boring here without you right?" said Will. Merlin smiled evilly in response, "Then let´s cause some mayhem."

Two hours later, Merlin and Will ran for their lives from the village dollophead, Peter, whom took their harmless prank in the wrong way, spoil sport. Out of breath and sweaty, Merlin and Will gave each other a brotherly bear hug and departed, Will to a cold tankard of mead and Merlin to his home. When Merlin entered the cozy little house he was overwhelmed with the smell of properly prepared and good food. He saw his mother standing in the kitchen, one hand on her hip and the other busy gently spreading ingredients on a rather-good looking sandwich. He reached for it but had his hand quickly slapped away by his mother. "Ow!" he exclaimed, looking at his mother, properly reprimanded. She simply gave him a withering glare. "That's for the trip, Merlin." She then handed him some bread and water, which he ate graciously. "Now," she said, as he munched on his second slice of bread, "I have all your things packed and you should be prepared to go but I have two things to give you before you do. " He took a gulp of water and looked at her expectantly. "Not right now though." she stated simply. Merlin nodded and finished his meal, ready to take on the world.

After sorting out that all of his things were indeed packed, he made his way back to where his mother was. He found her sealing a rather long letter, and tilted his head curiously. "Who's that for?" he asked. "An old friend of mine, now listen here my son, when you get to Camelot ask for a man named Gaius, understood?" she said. Merlin nodded, and took the letter, stuffing it into one of his front pockets. Then she pulled something out of her bag that looked like it might take him a year to read. It was dusty and ancient but radiated a sort of power that he couldn´t quite put his finger on. "This is-was, your fathers." Said his mother, Merlin looked at the book reverently.

They didn't talk about his father much, but he never thought that he would ever receive something like this. The only thing that he was able to breathe out was "Really?" She nodded in reply, her voice cracking slightly as she responded, "H-he told me to give it to you when you set out on a great journey, he said you would need it. I don´t even know why I kept it to be honest, but I guess that this qualifies as a great journey doesn´t it? " By now tears were freely flowing down her face. Merlin swooped her into a tight hug, tears welling up in his own eyes. "Oh Merlin, please do be careful will you?" she said quietly as he prepared himself to leave. Merlin nodded and smiled, stepping out of the door and heading towards Camelot, where he hoped that great things awaited him.

_**A/N: Hey, to those of you who don´t know me, I´m Omega Emrys, You could call me Omega. I´m pretty new to actually writing in this fandom, so please forgive me if my character sound pretty OOC on occasion, I´m still trying to feel them out and get a good grasp of what they´re supposed to be like. Please leave some constructive criticism if you can and COMMENT COMMENT COMMENT, please. Thanks. Anyways, this is just an idea that popped into my head. It´s simply my take of how the show should have gone. It will be a Mergana story with some Arwen. See you soon hopefully, hasta luego!**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N: I DO NOT OWN Merlin, I wish I did though D:**_

It had been a few hours ago that Merlin left for Camelot, and the sun was beginning to fall, so he decided to stop for the night. He set down his little camp and collected some wood. When he finished that he set it down right in between his make-shift bed and a log. He sat down on the log with his father's book, staring at it in awe. He never really thought that his father would give him anything, especially because Merlin was convinced he was dead. Merlin didn't really mind living with just his mum, but sometimes he just wanted his father, and he often wondered why he left them.

Shaking these thoughts from his head he opened the book and nearly reeled back from shock, as in the book there was a letter, but the letter was being held up by a dragon made of small ember flames. Merlin nervously plucked the letter from the dragon's claws and saw that it disappeared. He gently unsealed the letter and pulled out a parchment with loopy words on it, but it wasn't the language he was used to speaking. It was a different language, and yet, he understood perfectly. The letter was written in a strange language: _"My son, I am Balinor, the last of the Dragonlords. I know that sometimes it seems that I abandoned you and your mother but please know that I never did it of my own will. I did it to protect you from a very evil man, whom would give everything to see me hung."_ Merlin took in a sharp breath. His hands trembled as happiness went through his very bones. His father hadn't left him of his own free will after all, he was going it to protect them! _But from who?_ He thought to himself.

He continued reading _"This man is Uther Pendragon, and he is the one who has condemned all magic, and dismissed anyone who wields it, whether it be a practitioner, or someone born with it like you and me. I would warn you to never step near that corrupted kingdom, but I know it would be impossible to stop you if you were anything like Hunith. In this book that I have I hope your mother has bestowed upon you, everything I know is written, and everything I will learn, will be written. Throughout the book there will be more letters like these, and they will appear when you need them most. Merlin, I am alive and well but in a far off land. Do not seek me, for one day we will meet, but when you least expect it. And when we do, you will know. When you reach Camelot, ask for Gaius, he will be a good guide for you. Be careful, and help any others like you, no matter what, even if an overgrown lizard tells you not to (you'll understand later, son). I love you with all my heart and await our meeting. Sincerely, your father, Balinor."_

Merlin sat down, tears streaming down his face as he read the letter over and over again, it was more than he could ever wish for. He silently, placed the letter back in the book and the dragon reappeared quickly, grabbed the letter and disappeared into thin air again, this time with the letter. Merlin continued looking through the book and found all kinds of notes and spells and theories and essentially everything he could ever want.

On the front of the book he found two pretty nifty spells that would definitely be of use. One was to hide the book from sites except his own, and the other was to allow only him and anyone he trusted read it's contents. Additionally, for the fun of it, he added a spell that would make it seem it was simply a random book about the _sex cycle of the squirrel._ Merlin snickered at the thought of someone opening it by accident and reading about squirrels. He looked up and saw that the stars were already high in the sky, and he had wasted a few hours reading the seemingly endless book. Putting out the fire with a golden flash of his eyes, he went to sleep.

Somewhere not so far away, a strong and large dragon roared in triumph while a girl with flowing black hair and emerald eyes woke up with a start, feeling a sort of euphoria as she had a very good dream about a boy with black hair and the most titanic-sized ears she had ever seen. She smiled to herself, _I bet whoever that is could fly with ears like that._ Amused at her own wits, she went back to sleep with a smile on her face while a dragon below the grounds of Camelot roared a triumphant roar that shook the foundations of the place to it's very core.

Dawn with her rose red fingers caressed Merlin awake gently. The day was a beautiful one where the sky was as amazing as ever. Hardly a cloud in the sky, he thought to himself. To his left he heard birds singing and to his right the gentle movements of a stream. He smiled and picked up his bags, preparing to continue his journey. Once everything was in order and all evidence of his stay was gone, he set out on his trek again. After about two hours of walking he was about to take a break and eat when suddenly he saw large white tower in contrast to all of the trees. And a smile broke onto is face. He was almost there.

After about 30 minutes of walking he was able to find a large gate, the entrance to the grand castle. He nearly sprinted through but calmed himself down before he hurt himself. He passed through the lower villages and ran into a very nice, dark-skinned girl named Gwen, whom offered to help him with anything he needed. Merlin smiled and a thought occurred to him, "Oh yea, do you happen to know who Gaius is and where I could find him?" The girl smiled in delight, "Gaius, yes of course, I was just doing a chore for him right now actually." Merlin looked down and saw that she was carrying a rather heavy looking bucket. "Do you need help?" he offered. She replied "no thanks" but Merlin took the bucket anyways. "So," he said, "where could I find Gaius?" She took him all the way to Gaius' chambers, all the while telling him about different parts of the castle. They made it to the main courtyard where there seemed to be a large gathering.

"What's going on over there?" asked Merlin. Gwen shook her head in disgust, "I bet an execution is about to take place." Merlin felt his stomach lurch, "for what?" he asked softly. "Sorcery." she stated, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, which it was, considering where they were. Merlin's stomach lurched again, knowing very well that it could have been him being executed right now. As the blade dropped both Merlin and Gwen averted their eyes, Merlin looked up and saw a gorgeous woman by a window looking down at the execution going on with disgust, suddenly she met his eyes and Merlin looked away swiftly. Gwen seemed to be rather busy ogling a blond and seemingly arrogant prat, whom seemed slightly uncomfortable with the execution. The blond prat looked at a man to his left and Merlin saw that he was looking at the King, a rather harsh looking man with graying hair and large scar across his face. His face was twisted into a wicked smile which quickly disappeared as an elderly woman cursed him and threatened his son, the blond prat to the King's right. She disappeared in a swirl of wind with a long string of complicated words.

After the crowd began to disperse Merlin looked to Gwen and saw her looking at him, trying to judge his reaction to the execution. Merlin simply nodded sadly, and arched an eyebrow, his way of asking where to find Gaius. She rolled her eyes and pulled him into the castle and towards Gaius' chambers. She left him off there, saying that she had to attend to the Lady Morgana, whoever that was. Merlin bid her farewell and said thank you as he entered the room to find an old man falling to what would be his death.

_**A/N: Hello again! Hopefully this chapter came out slightly better, and now we are getting to the fun parts. I hope you enjoyed, and I may/may not update later today or tomorrow. Please give me feedback and tell me my mistakes. The more comments, the faster the updates. I would like to thank Angela for taking the time to review this and read it and I'm glad you enjoyed it.**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: STILL don't own Merlin.**_

_**WILL NOT BE GOING EPISODE TO EPISODE, THIS WILL BE AN AU STORY.**_

Merlin wasn't quite sure what happened next, but suddenly he felt his magic rush through his veins and his eyes flash gold and then the old man he assumed was Gaius started floating and suddenly dropped onto a small bed. Merlin sighed in relief, but the old man seemed to be the flames of Hell's Fury as he quickly stood up and yelled up a storm. "Are you mentally ill? Uther would have you executed on the spot! Who are you anyways?!" Merlin turned red in embarrassment.

"I'm Merlin, I was sent hear by Hunith, you're Gaius right?" The old man raised an eyebrow. "You're Hunith's son! Dear Lord how time has passed, last I saw you, you were just a wee lad. I see your ears kept growing hm? Very well, let me see the letter she sent with you then." Merlin turned even redder when Gaius mentioned his ears, but handed him the letter anyways.

Gaius took it gently and unwrapped it, reading it's contents. On occasion giggling and smiling like a teenage girl. Suddenly Gaius let out a hardy laugh. Merlin narrowed his eyes, what on Earth had his mother written in that damned letter? Gaius put it down with a grin, looked him over again and let out another laugh. Before saying "I have a room for you right over there." Merlin nodded and made his way to the small room. He placed his things there and sat down in the bed with a sigh. He wondered what he would do now that he was here.

To be honest, Merlin felt frightened, he was made of magic and living in a place where the smallest hint of magic granted him a death sentence. He stepped back out of the room and closed the door with a flash of his eyes. Gaius jumped, startled, then sighed. "Merlin, m'boy, you know magic is forbidden here yes?" Merlin nodded, "I just witnessed someone get executed for it." Gaius raised his eyebrow again, Merlin was beginning to wonder if he did that everytime he was going to speak.

"Then you must realize that your magic is not to be used for frivolous things, and as the Court Physician, I do tend to get regular visits. You must not use it unless absoloutely necessary, understand?" Merlin replied, "Of course." Gaius stared at him for a moment longer, and said simply "Though Merlin, I do suppose I should say thank you." Merlin nodded and made his way to to his bed and took a well-deserved nap for a while.

Gaius was slightly disturbed about the contents of the letter. The boy was special, he knew that much. He could sense the power radiating from him. Gaius decided that he would take care of the boy, and cultivate him into the great man that he could be, like Hunith had asked him to. He giggled again. _"And for God's sake, put some muscle on the boy, the highest concentration of strength in his body are his ears."_ she wrote. Gaius chuckled once again, and picked up a vial of some greenish goo, sighing to himself, back to work.

Early that morning, he heard his name called multiple times. It was getting so annoying that he actually responded, "Shup up will you?" Then he shot up, wide awake. He let out a long sigh, he must have been going mental, absolutely bonkers. He woke up just in time to have Gaius assault him with chores. "Eat up, I've got things to do and now that I have an extra pair of legs around here, I'm going to save myself some trouble. Can you go fetch me a bucket of water? Make that two actually. Also, when you find the time can you go get me some of these herbs?" The elder man gave him a small list of herbs to collect and a brief description. Merlin groaned but ate and headed out anyway.

Merlin quickly found the location where he could fill his buckets to the brim. As he made his way back up to Gaius' chambers, Merlin saw a severe injustice occurring that made him very angry. There was a man with a neatly groomed head of golden hair, equipped with armor and a sword, attacking a defenseless servant. Merlin felt a flash of anger and went to confront the prat. "Hey, leave him alone!" He bellowed as he neared them with the intent to attack if necessary.

The attacker and his knights turned to see who was insane enough to challenge them so. Then they burst into fits laughter as they noted his skinny frame and lack of muscle. Merlin's stomach churned and the magic in his veins boiled. "What are you going to do about it?" The golden-haired man inquired with an arched eyebrow reminiscent of Gaius and an arrogant smirk only a noble could manage. "I'll take his place." Another burst of laughter, which died out quickly when they noted the seriousness in his tone. The blond knight didn't take the boy seriously, but agreed nonetheless, knowing that he would win. Merlin nodded in agreement, though he severely doubted that the knight could beat him if Merlin really tried.

The fight ended after 7 minutes and 27 seconds, Merlin kept count subconsciously. He wanted to make sure that every moment that he was alive was not wasted because Arthur, as Merlin learned his name was from the cheering on of his fellow knights, was quite the fierce fighter. Merlin couldn't out right use magic; else he would have won very soon. However, Merlin could fight with a sword and that was all he needed.

Merlin knew a thing or two about sword play, he read a few books about it. Then he thought about it, technically one was a picture book he read when he was a kid. Suddenly the graveness of his situation dawned upon him. _Oh shit_, he thought. He blocked Arthur's blow with another _clang_ of metal. Merlin used small bits of magic along the way, trying to make his odds better, which they did indeed increase.

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><p><span><em><strong>POV Change: Arthur. (Bet you didn't expect that, did ya? ;D)<strong>_

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><p>Arthur was having plenty of fun with his friends, he was 'training' with one of his useless servants whom couldn't take a hit without whimpering <em>pansy<em>_,_ Arthur thought. Then suddenly things changed so fast he could barely keep up. He turned around as a skinny and gentle-looking peasant with a mop of black hair and ears fit for an elephant walked towards him angrily. It was the most ridiculous thing Arthur seen all day, he suddenly, he was stuck in a duel, when the boy had challenged him, Arthur had half a mind to behead him on the spot, but resisted, figuring it would be a total killer to the mood and not awfully fun to explain. So Arthur had agreed, feeling less than threatened.

It was about two minutes into the fight that Arthur began to feel impressed, and so were most of his knights he would wager. Not many people could manage even a minute against him, but here was this stupid peasant whom looked like he had never even touched a blade before, lasting twice as long as many of his own knights. If he didn't know better, Arthur would assume that it was magic, but no, boy was too moronic to be able to even memorize incantations.

The fight lasted about 5 minutes longer when there was finally a breakthrough, the clumsy oaf had tripped on his own feet and was now on the ground with his sword skidding away. Arthur smiled triumphantly and pointed his blade to the face of the serving boy. _time to teach this guy a lesson_, he thought to himself.

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><p><span><em><strong>POV Change: Back to Merls. (Yes, I did.)<strong>_

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><p>Merlin gulped nearly audibly as there was a rather sharp and pointy object pointed at his face. Merlin nearly went cross eyed trying to see the tip of the blade. Arthur had a smug look plastered to his face and it annoyed Merlin to no end, but he was more concerned with simple matter such as death and such, how silly of him. Suddenly, the prince, as Merlin just realized was the person he was dealing with, put his sword back into it's sheath. And called for the guards to seize him, and put him in the stocks.<p>

Merlin loved getting rotten fruit pelted at him, really he did. But it became quite the annoyance when he had things he had to do. So once his time was up, he nearly soared to collect the herbs and refill the buckets of water that had been spilled over during the fight. He made his way to Gaius' chambers with the speed of a wild hog and burst in to see the elderly man speaking to a gorgeous woman with emerald eyes and a very form-fitting dress. Merlin nearly dropped his bucket at the sight of her, while she looked him over and tilted her head and Gaius arched his eyebrow. "H-hi." He stated lamely, it was more of a question than a greeting, which had the tips of his ears turn red. "I heard what you did, very impressive, I think Arthur deserved it and you certainly deflated his head a little. I suppose I should say thank you." She said, eyes sparkling, and a smile on her lips, glad that somebody stood up against the power.

Merlin nodded and attempted to choke out some words before closing his mouth when he was greeted with no success. She let out a delightful laugh, the most beautiful sound he had ever heard, and turned to Gaius.

"Thank you Gaius for the potion, I'll come by next week again." She said. Then she walked-nay, glided past him only turning her head once to look him over once again before she stepped out of the door. Merlin felt like an idiot, with pieces of tomato in his hair and a horrible stench attached to his jacket.

He turned to Gaius, whom simply stared at him with one eyebrow raised so high it seemed to disappear into his hair. "What?" Merlin asked indignantly. Gaius shook his head a muttered something about psychology. Merlin arched his own eyebrow in turn and went off to wash himself before the feast.

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><p><strong>AN: Not my best writing this time but I've been super busy and inspiration lacking, the only thing that kept me writing this was your reviews so I really appreciate them and the supporters of this crappy little story of mine. I plan to start the small spark of Mergana early but want a lot of friendship before there is even the possibility of a romance. Same goes for Arwen. I changed things up to my advantage in this chapter. The day in the first episode and his day in this fic are slightly different, nothing too big, but definitely big enough that some change could come from it.**

**Angela: yes, the chapters aren't too long on purpose. NP, it's my job to give thanks to you awesome people. And please, never hesitate to offer your advice.**

**I luv Milarion 1201: I appreciate the confidence so much! I really don't want to dissapoint you guys.**

**Lady Flurryous: No, the reason as to why these things happen is due to spontaneous spurts of magic and something else I have planned for this story, will be explored in later chapters, but I mean MUCH later.**

**Patiku: I will most definitely not describe each episode, I agree that's too boring. And yes it is, one of the subtle differences ;D**

_**URGENT:**_

_**I NEED A BETA!**_

_**Also, I don't quite know exactly what I want to do with this story yet so PLEASE tell me what you want to see from this so I could finalize my ideas.**_

_**You guys are the best! -Omega Emrys**_


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